Wildfires Singe Western States

Wildfires raced through a national forest in Arizona and a desert community in Southern California on Wednesday, burning several homes and threatening hundreds more in an outbreak fueled by gusting winds and scorching temperatures.

A grass fire in California raced through the Mojave Desert about 100 miles east of downtown Los Angeles in the Morongo Valley, an area that includes about 2,000 ranches and homes. Six homes and another building have been destroyed.

The wildfire was 30 percent contained early Thursday. Firefighters hoped to have it surrounded by Friday.

"We were originally called to a house fire and the wind spread that fire into the brush. Because of the extremely tinder-dry grass, the wind spread the fire and currently we're at 5,500-plus acres," Bill Peters of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen.

One factor that worked in firefighters' favor: most homeowners had already taken the precaution of clearing brush away from their scattered homes, which sit on large lots.

The fire, aided by temperatures topping 100 degrees, created flames up to 30 feet high. About 300 firefighters were on the scene, supported by six airplanes and two helicopters.

"I think it will be a particularly busy fire season in that since last weekend we've had grass fires predominantly every day of some size in Southern California," said Peters.

Gene Rotstein, owner of Morongo Hardware, and his wife fled their home on Paradise Avenue, and said they were "bombed" with fire retardant from helicopters as they scrambled to leave.

"The last I saw as I was evacuated, it was burning the house above mine, about 50 feet away," Rotstein, 67, said from his store, where he and his wife gathered with their dogs.

Although the flames had threatened as many as 700 homes at one point, only about two dozen remained in danger by late Wednesday, according to Peters. Authorities say a second fire, about 35 miles away, burned more than 2,000 acres but is not threatening any structures.

Julie Brunette said she and her husband lost the trailer they had bought just last year. "We pretty much lost everything," she said. "Most everything we had wasn't very valuable, but it was memory stuff, pictures of our grandkids."

With flames just a few blocks from her home, Syble Breihan said she packed her car with important documents, photographs, her two dogs and her Jimmy Buffett recordings so she would be ready to flee at a moment's notice.

"I can stand in my back yard and see the flames," she said as she watered down the roof of her home. "I can smell the smoke. It's thick."

A handful of evacuees wound up at a community center in the high desert town of Yucca Valley. One of them, Janet Parades, said she awoke from a nap to find flames just 150 yards from her small ranch house.

"As I looked out the window, I saw billows of smoke, flashes of flame. It was roaring, just awful," she said.

In Arizona, two lightning-caused brush fires forced the evacuation of at least 250 homes from a subdivision in the Tonto National Forest about 20 miles northeast of Phoenix. No injuries were reported, but television footage showed at least one structure on fire.

The windblown blaze burned at least 30,000 acres, and crews set backfires to remove brush from its path.

"We continue to make progress, but right now we continue to focus on keeping the fire out of the communities and protect the homes," said Vinnie Picard, a spokesman for the fire crews.

Vincent Francia, the mayor of nearby Cave Creek, said two homes in the Tonto Hills area had been lost, along with 10 cabins in a summer community.

Nelse Pintel said that as he abandoned his house with his paperwork and cats, he saw flames coming into the canyon where he lives.

"When you live in a situation like this, you just know that it could happen anytime," he said. "When it does, you just grab what you can and you go and you hope."

Another evacuee, Bill Victor, watched from a road Wednesday evening as aircraft dropped flame-retardant slurry on the ridge behind his home.

"It's something to see the flames come over and shocking to realize that you could lose everything," Victor said. "It's a feeling everyone should have in their lives once to get their priorities straight."

In Nevada, firefighters took advantage of calm winds to tame a fire that burned 750 acres near Carson City and sent up a plume of swirling smoke visible 30 miles to the north. No homes were threatened and no injuries were reported.